Crispy Oven Roasted Chicken Breast

This oven roasted chicken breast is crispy-skinned, tender and juicy on the inside, and very flavorful. It’s very easy to make and hard to mess up. I use this recipe to make bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and whole chickens.

The most important part in this recipe is to not overcook the meat. You want to pull the chicken out of the oven at 160F internal temperature and let it rest for 5 minutes. If you let it cook past that temperature, it will get hopelessly dry and rubbery. Remember, when you pull the chicken breast out of the oven it will continue cooking and the temperature will continue rising by another 5 degrees or so. So, be careful and use an accurate instant read thermometer or, better yet, a BBQ thermometer, like the very popular and very good ThermoPro TP07 single probe or the ThermoPro TP08 dual probe thermometer.

My wife and I have recently started using our thermocouple BBQ thermometer in the kitchen. I normally use it for high heat grilling and smoking so this was something totally new for us. While this particular thermometer is an overkill for cooking in the kitchen oven, the idea is the same – it makes cooking chicken breast and other things so much easier. It’s pretty much a set it and forget it kind of thing. When the meat is ready the thermometer alerts you. Simple as that. No need to run back and forth with an instant read thermometer to catch the right temperature and let the heat out every time you check. No overcooked or burned meat.

I use seasonings sparsely in this recipe. You don’t need too much to get a very flavorful final product. I don’t add dry herbs as they tend to burn during high heat pan frying and ruin the flavor and the appearance.

Unlike my baked chicken breast which does not need brining, this roasted chicken breast definitely benefits from soaking in brine for a few hours. It’s great either way, tender and juicy, and I often skip brining when pressed for time. But if you have the time, brine your chicken breasts before roasting. The meat will be juicier, and more forgiving in case you let the internal temperature rise past the target temperature.

Ingredients

Instructions

If possible, prepare the chicken brine and brine the chicken breasts for 2 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Dry chicken breasts with a paper towel and rub with olive oil all over. Evenly sprinkle salt and spices on each side and gently pat to make sure the seasoning properly adheres to the surface of the chicken.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Fit a cooling rack inside the baking sheet and set aside.

Heat 1/2 cup of cooking oil (you can use olive oil or any other oil you prefer) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place chicken breast skin side down on the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Flip and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.

Transfer the chicken breasts onto the baking sheet, skin side up. Pour about 1 Tbsp of the cooking oil from the skillet over each chicken breast.

Bake at 400F for about 45 minutes, until internal temperature of the meat reaches 160F.

Let rest for 5 minutes and serve.

Notes

I recommend that for optimal results you should bake the breasts to 160F internal temperature instead of 165F. As I mentioned in my How To Bake Chicken Breast post, my experiments showed that internal meat temperature keeps rising by 5 degrees during the 5 minute rest period. This will ensure that the meat is safe to eat and is optimally tender and juicy.

57 comments

I hardly ever cook bone in chicken but this was SO good! My grocery store had skin on, bone in chicken breast and I am so grateful I found your recipe. Perfect timing and the chicken was amazing. Super moist and great flavor!

This is a great recipe! The chicken was very moist. I did the brine step with the water/salt ratio you recommended and added about a 1/2 cup of pancake syrup. It added just a hint of sweetness to the chicken. It was well worth the extra steps of brining, frying and then baking. Thank you for this “keeper”!

It’s hard to say without seeing it but you should be fine. Just remove excess seasoning and lower the temp a bit and it should be OK. It most likely has sugar so watch the breasts closely and flip frequently.

I made this and it was the best baked chicken breast I’ve ever made and I’ve been cooking for 50 years! In the past mine was either too dry or not done in the middle. This was perfect, moist and tender. I’m sharing the recipe with my daughters. Thanks so much! Judy

Hi! Yes, there is a difference. The skin and the bone protect the meat, which is what makes this chicken so tender and juicy given how it’s cooked. And the crispy skin adds a lot of flavor. This recipe was designed for bone-in, skin-on breasts. It doesn’t work well for boneless. If you search my blog, there is a really good one that I like a lot for boneless and skinless breasts.

As one who usually detests most oven-baked chicken, I didn’t expect much from this recipe. What a pleasant surprise! It turned out exactly as described, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. I followed the recipe as written and brined the chicken beforehand. Thank you for sharing this recipe. My husband and I loved it. It is a new addition to my RV cookbook of traveling recipes.

I used my cast iron pan so when I took the chicken out of the pan to rest, I poured off most of the oil, then deglazed the pan with about a 1/2 cup of white wine…let it sommer a bit, then spooned it over the chicken. It was so good!! Also made rice and put some on that too! It was a great meal!

Delicious! Didn’t have time to brine, but will do that next time. The chicken was so moist, tender and flavorful! I did 4 breasts and wound up with 1 1/2 left, so I pulled the meat off for chicken salad and tossed the bones in my crockpot overnight for broth!